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Friday, 18 November 2016

Elected Presidency

From the last PE, there are two issues that the govt needs to address.

First
is the public's understanding of the role of the EP.﻿ Until the
public's understanding is aligned to the actual legal role and
responsibilities, any tweaking of the qualifying criteria will be seen
as rigging the rules to exclude some candidates.

Educating the public on the role of the EP would be a major
campaign, and in the absence of a viable "role model" for an EP, voters
will adopt Presidential "models" that they know. Like POTUS.

﻿The
second issue is the perceived elitism of the qualifying criteria, or
the perceived "racism" of the criteria, or (as mentioned in the first
issue) the perceived nepotism - the EP is from a list of "approved"
candidates vetted by the ruling party. There is an inherent
contradiction is asserting that we want minorities to have a chance to
be represented by the EP, while at the same time raising the criteria.

Politically-affiliated
criteria like having been a Minister, or Speaker lays the candidates'
impartiality open to suspicion. By definition, these posts are conferred
onto them by the ruling party.
Appointed posts like the Chief Justice, is not much better in terms of perceived affiliation to the ruling party.

Permanent
Secretaries are arguably more defensible as impartial, but here is the
interesting thing: there are no minorities among the ranks of current
Perm Secs.

﻿The fundamental premise of Democracy
is that the will of the people should carry the day. And the assumption
is that while individuals' opinions may differ, the majority's opinion
is valid, if not correct.

I would suggest the
issue of the criteria for candidacy of the EP is a secondary issue. The
larger problem is the people's understanding of the role and
responsibility of the EP. The greatest hindrance to democracy is a lack
of understanding. That is the lesson of Brexit. And the lesson of recently concluded US Presidential Election.

As
such, I would suggest NOT amending or updating the qualifying criteria,
which would be seen by the conspiracy theorists as the ruling party
trying to exclude those not "approved" by the ruling party. ﻿
Clarify
the roles and responsibilities of the EP until most people get it, and
can easily debunk any conspiracy theorist's fantasy about the EP being a
second power centre.

At the same time, announce
that after due consideration, it was decided that the qualifying
criteria will not be "updated" because the criteria are a guideline, a
"minimum standard"﻿, and in a democracy, the will of the people is
paramount, and the people should be trusted to elect the best candidate
with minimal "guidance".

But... never mind.

As usual, I thought about this too long and the decision has already been made.

Why we resist the ideologues

There are... liberal democracies where you can have an "Amos Yee" type freedom.

There are also very sad places where there is little freedom or security, and life is very hard.

And there are a few places where there is quite a lot of chaos and life is uncertain.

Then there are very few places where you can be reasonably civilised and have sufficient security and responsible freedom to have a good life.

Singapore is one such Oasis of sensibleness... we are an Oasis of order, competence, efficiency, and reasonableness in an otherwise chaotic unreasonable, incompetent WORLD. Not just the region.

If Singapore becomes a copy of a Western Liberal Democracy with all the inherent inefficiencies, silliness, drama, and chaos, it would be a very sad thing...

If Singapore breaks down and devolves into a corrupt, ineffective, unfocused, shambling chaotic third world country, it would also be a very sad thing.

There is only one place where you can find Singapore's straightforwardness, integrity, efficiency, competence, order... And that is here, in Singapore.

If we lose this, whether because we lean to much to the left, or whether we let ourselves sink into mediocrity through complacency or a sense of destiny, or divine right, it will be gone.

...so that is why we resist the ideologues.

Trees

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.”

Reminder

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” - Ernest Hemingway

The Tao of Government

"Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills, and strengthen their bones."

"He constantly (tries to) keep them without knowledge, and without desire, and where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act (on it). When there is this abstinence from action, good order is universal."